After a tiresome day at work, you might love driving around at night. However, this could pose some challenges. Here’s how to drive safely with no street light.
Everyone loves the idea of driving at night to refresh their mind and soul. But if you do this with little experience, it’s hard to avoid possible hazards.
Especially without street light, your focus will be weaker than ever, and the chances of getting into a crash are higher at night time. So today, we’ve rounded up the top 7 ways to drive safely when there is no street light.
7 Ways to drive safely when there is no street light
You need to respect the increasing level of danger when driving in the dark. The following tips will support you in making the whole driver safer.
1. Keep calm and pay attention
Most drivers feel uncomfortable with the poor lighting on the road. It’s natural to experience panic, but in these situations, it becomes more threatening than you thought. Driving at night needs a calm mind and carefulness. You also should pay attention to the road, and be aware of possible risks.
2. Put your headlights on and watch out the traffic
With the appropriate use of headlights, you can spot every bump on the road easily. So once the natural daylight begins diminishing, it’s best to turn on the headlights of your car. Besides, watch out the traffic if the road has no street light at all. In this case, you have to switch to the high-beam lights.
Try to use those lights while you’re driving in rural regions and on highways away from the metropolitan areas.
3. Notice the road markings during night
It’s mandatory to keep your eyes on the road markings no matter if you drive during the day or at night. These signs let you know whatever possibly comes in your way ahead. By reading them, you would be kept alert so that you can move forward without difficulty.
Ensure to drive slowly to prevent yourself from any damage. Besides, when there’s a forest nearby on the road you’re driving, the markers will show “Animal Ahead”. Imagine that as any animal runs out to the road all of a sudden, a terrible crash is likely to occur.
4. Use the night vision system
As you know, driving at night time is a hazardous experience, especially when there’s no dimming street light. The problem here is that a few people complain that even with the high-beam headlights, they find it hard to see the street clearly during the night.
In fact, there are several car gadgets that will help all drivers move safely on the street in poor lighting. For example, a night vision system is one of the best things to use. Through it, you can dodge accidents when it’s made to show the street ahead of more than 300m.
5. Slow down your car
Speeding up causes 37% of driving fatalities at night as compared to 21% of those in the daylight. It’s all due to the low visibility and weaker reaction. In other words, the headlight tends to shine 160 feet ahead, but at 40 mph, you should need 190 feet to pause. Make a suitable adjustment at the speed.
Above all, slow down when you see bright headlights moving towards you. To do that, clean up the windshields since dirty ones will cause oncoming lights to diffuse. This limits the driver’s vision and offers you less reaction time.
6. Have regular rest stops in long distances
We highly recommend you to have regular rest stops when you have to travel long distances at night. The duration of a break lasts for 15 minutes. More importantly, driving for a long time after a full day at work is something you shouldn’t do. That’s because doing so will push you into another serious accident.
A lot of crashes take place due to the slow reaction times of the drivers. Some of them even fall asleep behind the wheel, increasing the unexpected hazards. During the rest, you can take a snap lasting less than 15 minutes. And do not forget about drinking two cups of coffee to beat the tiresome feeling for a while.
7. Inflate the tires of your car
You probably want to prepare for incidents that are likely to take place during the night. Ensure your tires to be inflated. Apart from it, always check out the oil and fluid levels so that you can have them replaced if possible.
Check out the tire pressure that comes with a handheld gauge from a store. It’s essential to correct the pressure, which is written on the decal on the side door and in the manual of the driver.
Besides, the rush hour is another factor you can’t ignore because everyone likes to get back home as fast as possible. Thus, the impatience could make things worse for you and other automobiles. Let’s take time and watch out for anyone weaving in and out of the lanes.
Also, watch out some drivers who probably have the feeling of fatigue on the road. They usually come back after a long day at work.
Closing thought
So you’ve learned the top 7 ways to drive safely when there is no street light. Simply take all of these tips into consideration, you will get to enjoy a safe nighttime driving experience.
For drivers, driving at night without street light is a regular thing. So learning how to keep yourself and passengers safe will make your drive another enjoyable experience.